Australian trauma
August 24, 2012
THIS month’s Medical Journal of
Australia has some bad news for
people visiting regional trauma
centres, with a study from the
University of Sydney finding they
are less likely to survive than those
who attend a major metropolitan
trauma centre.
Conducted by the University’s
Sydney Nursing School, the study
looked at the NSW Trauma Registry
data from 2003 to 2007 for patients
aged 15 and over, and found that
that the proportion of patients
receiving care at a regional trauma
centre increased over time, even
though mortality rates were
significantly higher than at a major
Level I trauma centre.
“Regional trauma centres play an
important role in the delivery of
trauma care, but often lack
specialty resources,” a statement
from the authors said.
According to the study the major
metropolitan centres received a
higher proportion of fatally injured
patients who were pedestrians, or
had fallen more than a metre or
had suffered burns or violence.
Deaths at regional trauma centres
more commonly resulted from
motorcycle or bicycle crashes.
In addition, the report found that
road trauma and falls were the
most common causes of injury and,
over the study period, motor
vehicle crashes decreased as a
cause of injury while falls increased.
Interestingly the report found a
small reduction in mortality after
major trauma over the study
period.
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